Media suffer winter chill in coverage of Sochi Olympics

CPJ report looks at restrictions on news coverage in run-up
to Winter Games

New York, January 28, 2014--Obstruction by Russian
authorities and journalists' self-censorship in a repressive climate have
restricted news coverage of sensitive issues related to the Sochi Winter
Olympics, the Committee to Protect Journalists found in a report released
today.

The report, entitled "Media suffer winter chill in coverage of
Sochi Olympics," examines how both local and international journalists have
been harassed and prevented from reporting on topics such as the exploitation
of migrant workers, environmental destruction, forced evictions, and
discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) persons.
The report also explores how Russian state-controlled media have ignored these
issues or even published propaganda smearing the victims of human rights abuses
and the activists who defend them.

"Russian authorities have cracked down on journalists,
rights defenders, and civil activists in a way not seen since the break-up of
the Soviet Union," said CPJ Europe and Central Asia Program Coordinator Nina
Ognianova. "The International Olympic Committee as the Games' organizers must
engage with Russian authorities to ensure that freedom of the press and freedom
of expression are unobstructed in Sochi both during and after the Games."

In the report's recommendations CPJ calls on the
International Olympic Committee (IOC) to ensure that host countries that fail
to reach international standards for press freedom and freedom of expression
suffer repercussions; on the Russian government to repeal laws that chill
freedom of the press; on corporate sponsors of the Games to insist that the IOC
speak out on media freedom violations; and on journalists covering the Games to
report violations of press freedom.